News

Commissioner Claims Customs Listening to Pleas of Local Swine Industry

01 June 2012

PHILIPPINES - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) said on Thursday that they are not ignoring the problem that the domestic swine industry is facing, saying that they have addressed the issues concerned in the proper forum.

According to The Manila Times.net, Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon told reporters that they have complied with the clamors of the swine industry, particularly on the use of reference prices by every port collector in the country.

“I categorically deny the claims [that we have done nothing]. Two days ago, we already met with the House of Representatives for a public hearing. We have come up in a solution of giving them the reference prices that they are asking from port collectors,” he said.

But the Commissioner reiterated that they cannot give all what the swine industry is asking for.

“Particularly, we cannot give them the copy of the Inward Foreign Manifest [IFM] that they were asking due to some risks. This can be used for market manipulation, trading and unfair competition,” said Mr Biazon.

Recently, Swine Development Council proposed that the Department of Agriculture be given a hand in regulating the importation of meat by requiring the BOC to automatically forward importers’ IFM, to allow the DA to inspect the importations against underdeclaration and misdeclarations by unscrupulous traders.

Local livestock producers in the country have even called on President Benigno Aquino 3rd to thresh out the problems affecting the livestock industry, noting that the government’s policy of allowing massive importation of pork and meat, despite adequacy of domestic supply, must be stopped because it has deprived the government billions of pesos in customs and tariff duties.

Hog raisers also urged that imported products first pass through the DA quarantine before the BoC’s final evaluation.

Industry stakeholders have even warned the government that they will resort to a five-day pork holiday if their grievances are not addressed.